Dye-sensitized solar cells represent a promising technology alternative to conventional photovoltaic systems. The best performing DSSC systems typically incorporate ruthenium complexes as photoactive materials, which, however, present issues related to the high costs, toxicity and limited availability of the starting material and that limit their practical widespread application. As a potential alternative, organic dyes have been proposed, which are, however, characterized by lower efficiencies and poor photostability.
To overcome these limitations, a new multifunctional coating system that is able to increase the sunlight harvesting ability and the operational lifetime of organic DSSC devices has been presented by an Italian research team. The use of such multifunctional coating simultaneously boosts the efficiency of DSSC devices and imparts outstanding long-term stability in real outdoor operating conditions. The group’s general approach paves the path for the fabrication of highly efficient and extremely stable DSSC systems in an easy and versatile fashion that also lends itself to a potential straightforward implementation on an industrial scale.